This morning started off crap. From the moment we woke up at 4am, it was going to be a long day. After getting a confirmation email the shuttle company was going to arrive at 4.35am, we were horrified and only half ready when they rocked up at 4.20am and asking where we were. We grabbed all our stuff, got in the lift both looking average and sleepy, and ran out to the van. Not the best start.
Picking up other people was not great either. The driver was aggressive, and everyone else seemed to have to same problem as us. This guy was running on a different clock. We eventually made it to JFK airport, in pretty good time really. Walking into the American Airlines terminal, we thought our troubles would be over. Not so.
No staff to check in, it's all automated, and turned out even though we had booked together, we were at literally opposite ends of the plane on a 6 hour flight.. and told we were going to have to pay for baggage that was allocated already.
After speaking to someone who did not know much, we spoke to a Supervisor who overrided the baggage problem, but due to the flight being a domestic, lots of people were travelling solo, and had pre booked seats all over the plane so we could literally not sit next to each other. All in all, was not going to be a big problem, the baggage was the main issue as we had recently purchased a new suitcase for all the things we had "acquired" (a.k.a bought lots of stuff).
Again, going through security and customs, being pocked, x-rayed, drug-screened and ordered to partially undress, we got to our gate and got a hot drink to calm us down.
We thought we could just ask, on the off chance for a spare seat of two from the boarding gate staff. Success... there was a row with apparantley less legroom the rest of the plane that they generally keep free. We could have it. So we took it. Upon boarding, turns out it had heaps of leg room compared to other flights we had been on. This day was not going to be as average as we first thought.
The plane was smooth, and we both had a good sleep which has helped with the time zone difference.
Arriving at San Francisco airport and getting our luggage has been about the easiest experience at an airport in the USA. We walked out, it was calm, quiet and our bags came out all together on the carousal within 5 minutes. We followed the signs outside, and withing another 5, were on a shuttle to our hotel.
We passed some questionable suburbs on the way through, giving each other the look hoping we were not near it. Turns out, we are not at all, and our hotel is amazing. The Handlery is comfortable, oldish but stylish. We settled in, and the staff here are awesome in helping us.
To get things going today, we had some lunch at a cafe and talked about what we were going to do for the afternoon. 15 minutes later, we had bought a 3 day public transport pass and were on a Cable Car crusing the hills of San Francisco in true post card style. Those things actually pick up a fair bit of speed.. then slam on the breaks to stop. We were sitting down, but the people hanging off the side had it a bit tougher than us. We got off at Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the world. Google it and have a look... it is amazing and so many people were walking and driving it. Would not want to live there purely for the tourists, even though the houses were beautiful and most likely had a price tag to match.
We caught a cable car back home, and have settled in to our hotel nicely. Tomorrow we are visting Alcatraz... cannot wait to share with you all.
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Ben and Steph
